That despicable excuse for a human being Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defense Secretary, has been forced to ‘apologise’ for the torture being carried out by US personnel in Iraq. Does anyone actually believe that a single word of it is genuine?
His apology would appear to be more honest if he hadn’t also said, as reported on the BBC’s site:
There are a lot more photographs and videos that exist. If these are released to the public, obviously it is going to make matters worse… I looked at them last night and they are hard to believe.
and also, in a somewhat convoluted sentence (thinking on the hoof again are we, Donald?):
We’re functioning with peacetime constraints, with legal requirements, in a wartime situation in the Information Age, where people are running around with digital cameras and taking these unbelievable photographs and then passing them off, against the law, to the media, to our surprise.
both of which would suggest that he’s not really concerned about the fact of the torture at all. He seems to be saying that it’s just fine to torture people provided no one finds out about it and that no one takes pictures.
So that’s OK then.
Posted 8 May 2004, 13:01 BST
